New Niko D600: Anyone have an opinion? Good camera ?Heard the 24-85mm wasn't too bad an optic....

The D800 is just too heavy for me.

Both of the cameras + battery + lens are almost identical in weight, unless you think it's fair to put a cheap plastic on a D600 vs super heavy all-metal lenses for the D800.Except for marketing terms, they are pretty much the same overall.

so there is a nearly 5 oz. weight savings. At the end of a long day, that's not nothing.

Not knowing anything about the OP (does he hike or climb a lot? Is he getting ready to go on a tour of the Himalayas? Is he older? Is he infirm? Or does he just want to reduce how much weight he lugs around?) saving weight and bulk may be a sufficient reason for wanting to add a D600 to his kit.

I got to fondle a D600 earlier today. Significantly lighter than my D700. No in-built shutter for the viewfinder - bit of a issue if you use a tripod & maybe longish exposures (and the supplied cover is just going to get lost). Not sure about the weather proofing, and not impressed by the lack of support for CF cards. Otherwise, not too bad & I could be tempted.

I got to findle a D600 earlier today. Significantly lighter than my D700. No in-built shutter for the viewfinder - bit of a issue if you use a tripod & maybe longish exposures (and the supplied cover is just going to get lost). Not sure about the weather proofing, and not impressed by the lack of support for CF cards. Otherwise, not too bad & I could be tempted.

in Holland the price difference is (only) 500€So if you spend all that money better buy a d800- also because- it is not nice to buy a camera that is deliberately crippled by Nikon...Nikon put all their best effort in the d800 ...And for sure in a few months time the price of the d600 will go down a lot...

Got to use and handle one today for the first time. There is a good reason why your D800 is heavier - it has the magnesium frame, whereas I found out the D600 is all plastic. Yes, it is lighter - I think it is lighter than my D7000 even, or at least it felt that way to me.

My major concern with the D600 is how light weight and "delicate" it feels to me. I think some people will love it for just that reason, but for me, I can be rough on my gear. I go into rough places. I once broke a part off my 4x5 sliding down a cliff into a river. Got a cut on my head too. Point is, I sometimes go deep and hard into the bush and many other rough places, and not always nice weather either, and I would be constantly worried about the D600 is those enviroments.

So for a guy like me, the D600 would not stand up and take the punishment. Your mileage may vary. Bear in mind I think the image quality of the D600 is superb, so this is not the point. It is the physical durability of the camera that is to me, potentially lacking.

I am kinda disappointed that all the D600 reviews I have read, everything from magazines to different forum posts, I've sen very little reference to this point. One reason I went with Nikon years ago is their gear, for the most part, took punishment better than many other camera brands.

So I think it depend on when and what kind of enviroments you plan on using it for. My best advice is get to a camera store, take you D800 with you, and compare the two directly side by side and see for yourself what you think.

I dunno why everyone thinks a camera needs to weigh 5kg to be durable, I personally prefer plastic to metal. It bounces back into shape, metal dents and deforms. Unless you're using your camera to bludgeon your way through the bush your argument re polycarb vs metal is redundant.

The D800 does have better weather sealing. This has nothing to do with magnesium

From all that I have heard, D600 is a great camera. It had better be as it is not cheap at $2100.

That said, D800 is just a bit more professional body for pros (pros in this case mean big burly photographers with thick fingers). I never could stand the ergonomics of D7K (slippery rubber, not enough grip space, etc..). From what I can tell, D600 is better than that and sits between D7K and D800.

D600 is quite suitable for almost everything that anyone want to do. If there was no D800, this would have been the camera to go to.

<snip>there is a nearly 5 oz. weight savings. At the end of a long day, that's not nothing.<snip>

Yes it is Ellis, or the next thing to it. Want to know how much 5 ounces is? It's one-fourth of the most-often sold size of a plastic bottle of Coca Cola. (I know, water weight and dry weights are different, but an ounce of water is very close to a dry ounce.) It's less that the weight (6.6 oz) of the cheapest plastic Nikon f1.8 50mm prime. It's less than the meat alone in a McDonald's Angus Deluxe. I would say that, if at the end of the day, that weight makes a difference, you should have stayed home and gotten some rest. There may be reasons for buying a D600 instead of a D800 -- price, for one thing -- but if somebody's doing it because of the weight, perhaps they should take up fly-tying. Flies are very light.

5 ounces is not so insignificant. For serious backpackers and trekkers who shave off excess weight from their gear by shortening shoelaces and removing labels from their clothing , this could be a lifesaver. By switching from D800 to D600, one can do also away with those bulky CF cards and achieve even greater weight savings.

The viewfinder diopter adjustment dial is at an exposed place, unlockable and therefore prone to getting misadjusted while getting the camera out of or into the bag. This is a problem with all consumer and prosumer bodies from Nikon and Canon. Malicious intention or just ignorance? The D800s dial (just like the D3's, D4's and D700's) is on the side of the pentaprism housing and can be securely locked. This may be only a small indicator that the D800 models are (in doubt) the more professional ones. Or does the use of loctite preserve my warranty?

With DNG 1.4 i can produce RAW files with less than the unnecessary 36 MP. Disk space (and it does become costly when you shoot 50.000 images per year) is no longer an issue.

You could probably shave a bit of weight off a D800 by removing the flash sync caps and shaving the rubber grips off with a craft blade. The black finish must weigh a few grams and the screen protector.

If you are worried about weight and still want fantastic image quality I would seriously consider a Pentax K5IIs when it becomes available. Compact, no AA filter, 16MP with class leading low noise in APS C, fully sealed mag body, and quite a selection of compact high quality primes. But since it is a Pentax product with the non existent Pentax marketing nobody has heard of it